Chapter One
The Barbarian Girl
Here we see Beach City. A peaceful little place, but lively in it's own manner. The gems have returned but only for a short while, as they must continue missions. They exchanged their hellos with each other, did their training and headed out the next day, leaving Steven alone at home again. Passing his time as he usually would, playing video games, he did notice a long almost tail like bound of hair flying just outside window. The hair, having piqued his curiosity, led him outside, where he saw a girl with a long ponytail not far from his age but certainly with longer hair than his father, on his rooftop seemingly meditating.
She had long, straight, black hair so dark it would be as if you were staring into space at any time of the day, with only a bright green highlighting coloring her bangs (not that you could see her eyes in the first place). As for her outfit she donned a completely black sleeveless top seemingly hand-made with a hood and faded black denim pants with plenty of tears and holes—mostly made by her of course—but just enough to look publicly decent, as well as dark leather fingerless gloves.
"Hi! My name's Steven!" the boy had yelled to the mysterious young girl. She didn't say anything. She just she sat there, not moving a muscle. Concentrated, but at what?
"What's your na—," he was however interrupted by a mighty roar coming from the ocean and rumbling the ground.
A gem, a corrupted gem, was upon them as it made its decent from the lighthouse just above them, the very lighthouse made to guide those lost at sea, now will soon guide those who wish to know one another. As he was getting ready to attack, before Steven could even have a moments thought the girl, with a hatchet in hand, jumped off of his rooftop, threw the weapon at the monster's head, harming it and stomped the hatchet on landing finishing it off.
"Wow, that was incredible!'" Steven said amazed. "How did you do that? I-It was like you were some kind of ninja!"
"It was like you were superhuman, it was like… it was like," but the smiles from the boy slowly dissipated as he asked, "Are… a-are you a crystal gem?"
"What? No, no," the girl spoke reassuringly, however not fully convincing Steven.
"But then," Steven said preparing his shield but not making it visible, "where did the hatchet come from? And h-how did you jump all the way over here?"
"Relax kid I'm human," then the girl proceeded to explain, "It's just that I come here every once in a while to train, usually in hopes of finding and fighting a monster as you can see. I mean—we humans have to defend ourselves too. It's our home also, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I guess it is," Steven then said relieved.
"Listen um, Steven is it? I have a small confession to make" and so the girl confessed, "I've actually been watching some of your battles with other monsters where you usually take the defensive with your… shield right? And while I can respect your pacifism, I feel you shouldn't just leave the offensive to your friends. And if you'll let me, I'd like to teach you how to fight."
"Well sure I'd accept, but I also fight when I fuse with my friend Connie," Steven also explained.
"Who? Oh right, the young swordfighter." She thought to herself then spoke, "Yes, I've also seen those fights too, but it does seem likes most of the fighting is coming from her. She's an admirable little swordswoman, but if you want to also protect her, you must also protect yourself. Will you follow me?"
"Yes. Yes, I'll do it!" Steven said excitedly.
" For Earth?" the girl asked giving her hand.
"For Earth," Steven replied shaking it.
"Oh boy, I got to tell the gems!" Steven said as he started running back to the house.
"Wait, who?" asked the girl.
"The crystal gems! You know, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, c'mon!"
"Oh, your friends. Um… listen Steven if it's all the same to you I'd like to keep our lessons private," she said hesitatingly.
"How come?" asked the enthusiastic boy.
"Well um, c-considering that their used to you playing the defensive I'm not sure they'd be too big on you fighting, and honestly, if they would be that's great, but we should keep it on the down-low. T-to surprise them!" explained the girl.
"Oh. Well, okay." Steven said trusting her.
"Your training starts tomorrow evening," the girl finally said, "Oh, and Steven? My name's Jaiden."
"That's a nice name," Steven complimented, "See you tomorrow!"
"What a nice kid," Jaiden thought to herself, "but I just wonder what could happen if he learns the truth. I just need to keep myself hidden from these 'crystal gems'. Just for now."
That night, all but the uneasy Jaiden slept well, then the morning came. The sun had risen like a phoenix rising from the cloudy sky of fire and making its daylong trip through the great blue ocean above us, only to sink down into the horizon evermore where the dove makes its flight across the space between our worlds until the next day, where deep, lies the very torches we call stars waiting to be burnt out once and for all. Yes the morning had come and in the next day of meeting the stranger known as Jaiden, Steven begins his training. No longer as a defender, but now a fighter.
"Okay Steven," said his new fighting teacher, "it's here that we begin your training. Are you ready to begin?"
"Absolutely!" said the young man excited as ever, "I'm ready to defend my friends. But I have one question."
"What is it Steven?"
"Well you mentioned that you wanted to keep this as a surprise for the Gems, but shouldn't have we found a proper training ground rather than… you know, my front yard?"
"Steven, you forget. I'm not a gem. I mean I have to work with what I got, know what I mean?"
"Oh yeah, my bad," the young boy said now prepared.
"No biggie. Now to begin we'll start with these rocks," she said not showing concern.
Steven usually paid no mind to the boulders on the beach, but for this moment the boulders seem huge to him. All that time of not noticing made him feel smaller in that moment. But Jaiden began to speak again snapping Steven back to reality.
"Listen closely Steven," she began to instruct, "one good ability of fighting is learning how to shift your power, like how you are able to float while jumping."
This surprised Steven, as he was not aware that others had seen his power just a few weeks back.
"How do you—?"
"You're one of the strangest kids in Beach City pal," Jaiden explained, "when that whole thing happened some weird guy with the blonde dreads and a flower shirt at first thought you we're a UFO, but some pretty girl with a bandana and an apron recognized you almost instantly. I guess you're pretty popular 'round here. Anyway let's get back to training."
"Right!" Steven said now re-prepared.
"So as I was saying about shifting power, you must learn to stretch your endurance and put more power than one usually would when throwing a punch. Observe," And so she demonstrated.
"You breathe in," inhaling as she spoke, "you focus on your target, and you strike!" breaking a boulder almost twice the size of Jasper.
Steven stood there in awe, amazed but at the same time uncertain as he was not sure he could top an attack like that.
"Now obviously you may not be able to attack like that now," said Jaiden, "so we'll start smaller,"
She gave Steven a boulder about the size of himself for him to practice. Steven breathed in focused on his target, winded back for a punch, threw his fist and… stopped, as he was only centimeters away.
"I'm not sure if I'm able to do this," Steven said unsettled, " I want to defend my friends but I'm not sure if this is the way."
"Steven!" said Jaiden attempting to reassure him, "It's only a rock! You're not fighting anyone!" But it was to no avail, and Steven put his arms down in failure.
"Steven," said Jaiden, beginning a story, "let me tell you a story. I've gotten into fights often where I'm from. Living like that sucked for me. But I got into a fight once with this big girl and she was tough. I was at the end of my rope, on my back, and ready to give up. Then she gave her hand out to pull me up. She smiled, knowing the fight was over. And terrified, but more or less simply confused, I just started walking away, perplexed and… euphoric. The moment she smiled it felt like a revelation. She stood her ground, keeping her friends behind her. My own friends rejected me after I had lost and I left them. But that day I learned something. Sometimes a misperception can completely take over your thoughts on others. I'm telling you this because your hesitance to fight these monsters is justified but you must realize you aren't fighting the ones inside you are fighting the ones they have become on the outside. Maybe you can help them, like after that fight, that woman wanted to help me. Now. Strike again!"
And with all his might and stars in his eyes, Steven swung his fist towards the rock, breaking it in two.
"This kid is gonna go far," Jaiden proudly said to herself.